


Dignity of Kings of Old

by Imbecamiel



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Pre-LotR, Young Aragorn, archiving an older story previously posted to LJ, or young-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26002627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imbecamiel/pseuds/Imbecamiel
Summary: After being raised in Rivendell, Aragorn visits his people for the first time as a young man. The Rangers' first impression of their new Chieftain.
Kudos: 9





	Dignity of Kings of Old

He was not what they had expected. Not _lesser,_ surely. Perhaps more—that yet remained to be proven. But _different,_ that much was beyond all doubt.

  
They had expected him to be a true son of his father, worthy of those who had gone before him. And by all accounts he was that. Time would, again, provide the proof. They had also expected a boy, green and inexperienced with much yet to learn. And in that expectation they were—not disappointed, but confused. They were not unused to the presence of elves, nor indeed half-elves, for that matter. The elves of Rivendell had ever been friendly toward their distant kin, and willing to lend aid when it was needed.

  
Aragorn, however, was something else entirely.

  
He was well and truly his father’s heir, and none who had ever known Arathorn could doubt his son’s heritage having once laid eyes on him. And yet, at the same time, seeing him with the sons of Elrond, hearing them call him brother… one could well believe the connection. It was as if, rather than wearing more thin with each passing generation, every drop of elven blood in their long descent from Tar-Minyatur, the first king of Numenor who had been Elros, twin brother of Elrond, had concentrated itself in him, to give them a chieftain far nearer to the long-distant heritage of the kings of old than any they had seen in many a generation.

  
It was not merely in outward manifestations, either, the style in which he wore his hair, the distinctly elven cut of his clothes. Though those might well influence one at first glance, his broad-shouldered, solidly built frame and lack of pointed ears spoke quite clearly of his humanness.

  
No, all those were merely superficial details. It was something beyond those things which encouraged the mental association, and had in more than one moment already taken them aback.

  
Every one of their chieftains for some generations had at some point in his youth been fostered for a time in Rivendell. There they had learned many things, of their heritage, their destiny, the world at large, equipping them for their future. But never before had one of them been truly adopted and raised by Elrond, among elves, learning of his people but knowing nothing of his own destiny until the time was judged right. At the time it had been deemed both wise and necessary, and even now there were few who could truly disapprove Gilraen’s choice to bow to Elrond’s wisdom. The risk of Sauron finding the Heir of Isildur had been far too great.

  
There were those, however, who feared that they might have lost their chieftain even so.

  
What good was it, if their chieftain returned to them in body, but not in spirit? If he came to them through duty, though his heart still found its true home in Rivendell, amongst the elves? A merely dutiful leader could not unite and save their ever-dwindling people, much less hope to infuse them with some spark of their former greatness.

  
Estel, “Hope,” he might have been called, but to them he could bring none without true vision and love for his own people.

  
But they would not be hasty in judgment. He was very young, and his newfound heritage yet sat uneasily on his shoulders. They must give him time and further acquaintance before asking him to prove himself. To demand too soon more than he was capable of would cause only harm, and could well mean shipwreck to the future of all Middle Earth.

  
Even so, it was with trepidation that the Dunedain observed their young chieftain on his first return to them. Too much depended on him for it to be otherwise.

END

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are much loved! :)
> 
> Story has been lightly proofread, but otherwise cross-posted in its original form as written in 2010.
> 
> This was originally sparked by a conversation my sister and I had. We were talking about the fact that we had always thought of Aragorn's first interactions with the Rangers in the context of him being young, inexperienced, having a lot to learn. And, while that may have been the case to some extent... their actual impression of him might have been quite different from what we'd originally envisioned. Particularly taking into account certain bits from the Appendices, such as -
> 
> "But when Estel was only twenty years of age, it chanced that he returned to Rivendell after great deeds in the company of the sons of Elrond; and Elrond looked at him and was pleased, for he saw that he was fair and noble and was early come to manhood, though he would yet become greater in body and mind."
> 
> Or - 
> 
> "Aragorn indeed lived to be two hundred and ten years old, longer than any of his line since King Arvegil; but in Aragorn Elessar the dignity of the kings of old was renewed."
> 
> So. Basically this is me trying to explore a little different perspective on Aragorn as a very young man from what I'd considered before.


End file.
